Air travel and rail transport were early examples of deregulation bringing huge benefits to consumers and industries. Yet automobility, air travel, and freight rail, are increasingly threatened with further regulation that will reduce their ability to transport goods and people. CEI opposes these attacks by arguing for greater freedom in mobility and opposing perverse transportation industry regulations.
Transportation Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
The Jones Act: High seas, higher costs than necessary
As the war with Iran intensifies, the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil flows, has seen dramatic disruptions that have…
Blog
Shutdown woes show why it is time to privatize the TSA
Imagine arriving at the airport for a long-anticipated vacation, only to face a line longer than an airport runway. The excitement quickly gives way to…
Blog
Mandates before proven safety: How the Railway Safety Act ignores rail safety
The Washington Post’s recent piece on the Railway Safety Act underscores an essential point: safety legislation must be grounded in evidence, not fear or…
Search Posts
Blog
CEI Submits Comments to FAA on Small Drone Certification and Operations Proposed Rules
Today, I submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of CEI on its notice of proposed rulemaking for small unmanned…
Comment
CEI Comments to the FAA on Proposed Regulation Regarding Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Read the Full Comments Here On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
Blog
Let Amtrak Pay Its Own Way
Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute has a great blog post outlining the various ills besetting America’s government-subsidized passenger rail carrier Amtrak. The gist of O’Toole’s…
Blog
Google Now Opposes State Automated Vehicle Legislation?
Back in 2012, I warned that California’s bill (now law) that would explicitly recognize the legality of automated vehicles and order state regulators to develop a…
Blog
Could Alcohol Taxes Reduce Fatal Car Crashes?
A new study from the University of Florida asserts that because Illinois instituted an alcohol tax increase in 2009 and the rate of alcohol-related traffic…
Blog
California Drought 2.0, or Is it 3.0?
California’s water woes are back in the headlines after Gov. Jerry Brown commanded a 25 percent cut in consumption last week after extended drought. Pricing matters…
Blog
Administration’s GROW AMERICA Act 2.0 Mixes Bad with Good
Today, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx unveiled the administration’s latest surface transportation reauthorization proposal. Like the previous White House bill, the latest iteration of the…
Blog
Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform Are Wrong about Passenger Facility Charge
I saw some unfortunate news today: Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to Congress opposing a possible increase in the cap of the…
The Washington Post
Streetcar Fatigue
In the Washington Post, CEI's Marc Scribner discusses "streetcar fatigue" and the quagmire surrounding Washington, D.C.'s H Street Streetcar project: Marc Scribner,…
Blog
Benning Road: The Last Refuge of Streetcar Apologists
Washington City Paper’s Housing Complex blogger Aaron Wiener has an unintentionally hilarious article on the slow-motion implosion of the D.C. Streetcar. But before I get to Wiener’s…
Blog
How Not to Fix, and Fix, Federal Surface Transportation Policy
A lot of misinformation and scaremongering swells around transportation infrastructure policy in Washington. We are told our highway network is on the verge of collapse…
Washington Times
No Desire for a Streetcar
CEI's Marc Scribner is quoted on the modern streetcar resurgence in the Washington Times: If nearly everybody likes a streetcar, fewer want to…
Mass Live
Can MBTA passengers get a refund on their passes?
Massachusetts Live talks to CEI's Marc Scribner about the issues facing MBTA: Transportation scholar Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said in…
Blog
Vapes on a Plane: More on Why DOT’s Proposed In-Flight E-Cigarette Ban Is Fatally Flawed
Over at CNN.com, I have a piece arguing against the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) forthcoming rule aimed at outlawing “vapes on a plane.” I explain why…
Blog
What the U.S. Can Learn from Canada on Aviation Innovation
As I continue to digest the sUAS NPRM, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, I came across Canadian drone attorney Diana…
Blog
First Thoughts on FAA’s Small Unmanned Aircraft System Proposed Rules
At 10am on Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its draft rules to govern small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The announcement is not particularly surprising,…
Blog
Ridesharing and Regulation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel organized by Cato’s Matthew Feeney, author of a new report on for-hire vehicle safety issues. Video…
Roll Call
What Rules To Govern Uber-Type Services?
Roll Call reports on Marc Scribner's presentation at a Cato Institute policy forum on ridesharing regulations: But Marc Scribner of Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
Transportation Roundup: Obama Budget, DOT 2045, and Sad Transcontinental Railroad Nostalgia
The President’s FY 2016 Budget On Monday, the White House released its DOA FY 2016 budget. Like President Obama’s previous budgets, this one has no…
Blog
Premature Capitulation?
Over the decades I’ve spent in this Heart of Darkness (a.k.a., the bowels of American politics), I’ve learned two lessons that have encouraged the steady…
Blog
Invest in Transportation Act of 2015 Violates Fiscally Conservative Transportation Principles
It was just announced that Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) would introduce the Invest in Transportation Act of 2015. The bill aims to offer…
Study
Free to Prosper
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new…
Blog
Gas Tax Mission Creep: From User-Pays to Carbon Tax?
The Niskanen Center is a new libertarian think tank that we at CEI look forward to working with on a number of issues. However, one where…
Blog
WSJ Editorial Board: Abolish the Federal Gas Tax
In recent days, a growing number of congressional Republicans have signaled a willingness to increase the federal excise tax rates on gasoline and diesel. As I…
Blog
Free to Prosper: Top Priorities for the 114th Congress
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new congressional…
Blog
Automated Vehicles Update: Big Feature at CES, California Rules Delayed, Georgia Cautious on Regulation
It’s been a few months since I last checked in on automated vehicles (AVs), commonly called driverless cars or autonomous vehicles. Below are some developments of…
Politico
A streetcar not desired?
Marc Scribner is cited in Politico: Besides costs, critics point to other shortcomings in the projects. For example, they question whether streetcar…
Opportunity Lives
Why America Needs to Get Smarter about Our Commercial Drone Policy
Marc Scribner talks to Opportunity Lives about the failings of current commercial drone policy: Marc Scribner, a fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute…
Blog
Poll: Two-Thirds of Americans Oppose Federal Gas Tax Increase
A new poll from Benson Strategy Group and SKDKnickerbocker found that 67 percent of Americans oppose increasing the federal gasoline tax by 15 cents, or an…
Blog
Political vs. Market Regulation: Uber Edition
Earlier this week The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell suggested that new entrants in the transportation market, like Uber, should face greater government regulation—despite having fueled much of…
Blog
Rep. Tom Petri Invokes Bad Reagan Policy to Justify Increasing the Gas Tax
Yesterday, retiring Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) joined wacky Rep. Earl "United Streetcar" Blumenauer (D-Ore.) to endorse increasing the federal gasoline tax by 80 percent.
Blog
United Streetcar: The Solyndra of Transportation
Over the weekend, The Washington Post published a fascinating article about the rise and fall of United Streetcar, an Oregon-based manufacturer that owes its very existence to the…
Blog
Congress Needs to Act to Bring about a Drone Revolution
Earlier this morning, a full panel of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) overturned a previous ruling from an NTSB administrative law judge in the Pirker case. In Pirker, the…
Roll Call
Friday Q & A: Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Part 1, Part 2 Analyst Marc Scribner at the Competitive Enterprise Institute examines transportation policy from a staunchly pro-market standpoint. Here are excerpts…
Blog
Voters Reject Three Rail Transit Boondoggles
Yesterday, voters across the country had the opportunity to vote on a number of transportation ballot measures. Three of these involved spending for new rail…
Blog
What Will the SpaceShipTwo Crash Mean for Commercial Space Flight Regulation?
The crash of a test flight of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, which cost the life of one, riveted many around the globe on Friday afternoon.
Blog
New Jersey’s Driverless Car Bill: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
Yesterday, the New Jersey Senate Transportation Committee in a unanimous vote reported S734, a bill that would recognize the legality of autonomous vehicle testing…
News Release
Mandates for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications Technology Called Into Question
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 – Federal regulators are poised to impose a big mandate on new cars and trucks, requiring vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology aimed at averting…
Comment
Comments to NHTSA Regarding Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
Blog
Misguided Regulations Threaten Automated Vehicle Innovation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel titled, "The End of Transit and the Beginning of the New Mobility: Policy Implications…
Roll Call
With Autonomous Cars, A World Without Red Lights?
Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said misguided government regulation may delay development of autonomous vehicles. Regulators may be well-intentioned, but they’re slow, he…
Blog
Is Driving to Work in Decline?
Over at The Washington Post's Wonkblog, urban affairs reporter Emily Badger has a post up on the recently released U.S. Census Bureau American Community…
Products
Response questioned
David Heckman’s response (“A bad idea,” Your Views, Sept. 6) to my recent op-ed (“Tolls less regressive than gas taxes,” Views, Aug. 31) conflated mine…
Blog
Are Consumers Smart Enough to Understand Airline Ancillary Fees?
In May, I criticized the Department of Transportation’s opening of a rulemaking on airline ancillary fees (baggage, seat assignments, etc.), noting that the primary…
Comment
CEI Comments in DOT-OST-2014-0056
View the Full Comments Here The Department of Transportation is using consumer complaints over baggage and other fees as a pretext to…
Watchdog.org
Officials quiet as police cite Uber-driving, retired Navy dad
Marc Scribner is a transportation expert at the Washington, D.C-based Competitive Enterprise Institute. He says the problem lies with Virginia’s laws — laws that didn’t…
Blog
STB Reauthorization Bill Threatens Rail Investment
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has scheduled a markup for tomorrow afternoon of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act (S.2777). If…
Blog
Regulator: True Ridesharing Illegal in California
In the past, I’ve noted that carve-outs for ridesharing providers leaves more innovative and disruptive business models—particularly future automated services—illegal. While self-driving on-demand transportation…
Blog
User Fees Are Not Taxes: The Case for PFCs
I've noted in the past the natural appeal passenger facility charges (PFCs) should have with fiscal conservatives. These are the user fees airports…
Human Events
Words Matter
We teach our children words matter—both in their intent and their actual use. Unfortunately, many grow up to become politicians or bureaucrats adept at manufacturing…